Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was at another forum doing a search. And in one of the old threads someone mentioned using horse chow as mouse food.
It kind of makes sense. In the wild you hear about or see mice getting into the horse feed all the time.....

What do you think about using horse feed as a staple diet for breeder mice?
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1.1 Ball Python, 0.1 motley amel corn, 1.0 western hognose

I have no idea what horse feed has in it but I did have that idea also. At the farm store they had horse, lamb, cow, etc. One thing I did notice was that the horse feed had only like 2.5% fat and maybe 4% fat. Very low on the fat end. Just a thought.

I'M NOT SURE IF I HAVE MY FACTS STRAIGHT BUT IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY RATS AND HORSES ARE THE ONLY MAMMALS THAT DON'T HAVE GALL BLADDERS.THE GALL BLADDER SECRETES ENZYMES THAT HELP METABOLIZE FATS SO IT MAKES SENSE THAT HORSE FEED WOULD BE LOW IN FAT.SO HORSE FEED MIGHT WORK FOR RATS BUT I'D ADD SOMETHING WITH IT FOR MICE.I HAVE A FEED MILL MAKE MY FEED SO I DON'T EXPERIMENT WITH OTHER FEEDS.I HAVE USED DOG FOOD IN A PINCH WITH NO OBVIOUS PROBLEMS.JEFF H.

Hello Jeff, What do you mean you have a feed mill make your feed? Is the feed a ground up mixture of some sort? What do you have them out in the feed and whats it cost vs other feed? How do you feed mice or rats?

I JUST HAD THEM MAKE COMMERCIAL FEED RECIPE AND THEY CHANGE A FEW INGREDIENTS SO IT'S NOT AN EXACT COPY.IT GOES INTO A HOG BLOCK DIE AND BAGGED JUST LIKE ANY OTHER FEED..THE ONLY CATCH IS I HAVE TO BUY 5 TONS AT A TIME.BUT ISELL ABOUT 1/3 TO HELP OFFSET MY COSTS.IT COSTS ME LESS THAN $10.00/BAG .JEFF H.

Wow under $10 a bag is pretty good. Where do you live at? How much do you sell bags for? Are they 50lbs?

I live in kansas (unfortunetly). Umm the horse chow I believe is about 8 or 9 dollars (usd) for a 50lb bag. It's called "strategy" and it has extremly close to the same indgreidients of the lab blocks I am using right now.
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1.1 Ball Python, 0.1 motley amel corn, 1.0 western hognose

Np

marksd I'm typically not in the feed business but when I do sell it's $12.50/50lb bag.I live in southern In.

Any idea what freight would cost to ship some? All I have here so far is Lab Diet and thats $27 for 50lbs.

I really don't know what freight costs but I'll do some checking Jeff

Ok sounds good. Email me at markncrys@hotmail.com or post back to this forum.

Ok, I don't need a 50 pound bag, because I only have 3 mice!

I use cheap dog food for my rats. It has a blend of meats and grains which is great for rats because they eat both meats and grains.
Mice on the other hand are more grain eaters than meat eaters. Dog food does work, but I wouldn't feed it exclusively.
I found a horse food (called strategy for those that live in the US) that would work great, but as I said, I don't want a 50 lb bag of food.

I am just going to go with the lab blocks for now and look for something that is the same in nutritional values.
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1.1 Ball Python, 0.1 motley amel corn, 1.0 western hognose

Horse feed is basically grains and stuff like Oats, Corn, Barley, Molasses, Peas, Cereal Meal, Wheatfeed,Spearmint, Clover, Comfrey,Grass Pellets. Sweet Meals usually have a good helping of molasses in them to make them sweeter. Stock feed is usually a bunch of different grains mixed.

Between dog food and horse food, small bird seed mix that would cover all the bases right ?

I know people that say they feed rabbit pellets to their rodents too but heck, mine are bedded in the stuff and don't eat it. That and what is the %s. I haven't seen a lot of horse feeds with the high 20%s that mice need for protein. But I did stop looking when I tried a bit and no one was interested beyond the initial nibble.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

I'm not sure. But considering that I only have 3 mice. I don't need a 50lb bag that they come in. I am using the lab blocks and going to try and find something that has the same nutritional value as the lab blocks.

I've only had them ONE day and they already stink!
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1.1 Ball Python, 0.1 motley amel corn, 1.0 western hognose